Fill Me Up Baby!— Diesel Shortage in the City

Just a week back there was shortage of petrol in the City; only ‘Speed’ was being supplied. Thankfully, this did not last for many days. However, since then inflation has climbed to a 13 year high…the prices of rice, pulses, dum biryani, and nariyal pani have been on the rise. Petrol prices were already up and the supply and demand for oil does not seem to have any equilibrium point.

Today, the city was full of traffic jams as a result of long lines of vehicles spilling out petrol pumps as they stood in line to fill up diesel. There seems to be a shortage of diesel. This is in spite of the world crude oil prices dropping by $10, the biggest drop in 17 years, on indications of lower demand forecasts for the world by US Federal Reserve Chairman. Only the Indian Railways, APSRTC and the Army seem to be ensured supply while regular civilian vehicles are facing the brunt of the shortage. During the day, folks filled up oil in bottles and to-go tanks, fought with bunk owners, and even complained to the media about how VIP cars were getting to fill up their tanks to the FULL and others were being given between 10-20 litres. Of course, public is blaming the government. At the time of writing this post, the diesel shortage is in Hyderabad and i am not sure if this is nationwide.

Hyderabad is considered as one of the brightest stars among the rapidly [read bizarrely] developing cities in India and now with no rains even in July, the city is going through tough times. Yes, to add to this, the cost of dum biryani is at it’s highest (luckily cinema ticket prices have been stable).

Perhaps, the best solution is for the government to announce that Petrol and Diesel will be available only for 3 or 4 days a week. Go to Hell. This will make the citizens themselves come up with innovative responses…they will carpool, be more careful with their oil and energy needs, roads will be less jammed with traffic and so on. The growth of our city was too fast and too good to be true…with every family of four now having three or four cars.

It is high time we scaled back. What do you say?

ps–in addition to citizen efforts, it is interesting that the Central Govt. is debating on the Nuclear Deal and going to vote on Confidence for the Govt. and not the Deal, while the common man’s issues are at their worst! This is irony!

Mr.Inkenti Intro

Mr.Inkenti is an academician, social researcher, observer, blogger, and a fan, who studies entertainment media and related affects off/on human behavior and society. The views expressed on this blog are entirely Mr.Inkenti's and do not in any way possible represent anybody or anything. Mr.Inkenti blogs about the public affairs from RTC X Roads, Hyderabad to Oslo, Norway. Welcome, aboard.